Datasets on various types of institutions

The data collection of this project does not primarily consist of digitizing documents (via scanning) but of the processing of a range of documents, that reside in archives, primary and secondary literature. The researcher can have access to complete databases on a number of parameters right away. In some cases we also provide scans of the original documents, by way of example. The type of documents that has been be used differs from country to country: some countries have preserved for example useful surveys of guilds, in other cases the data has been drawn from a number of archival documents and published sources.

The geographic scope of the data collection varies from institution to institution. The most widely covered institution is that of the guilds, for which a key features of their development for several European countries and China have been collected. Data on commons, waterboards, beguinages and journeymen’s boxes has been collected for the Low Countries only.

Please note that many of the databases mentioned here are still under construction. You can however already consult the database description. In the course of 2011 all databases mentioned underneath will be made available. If you have comments on the content of the databases already available, please use our comments-form to let us know. If you'd like to see your own data listed here, please use the Get involved!-form.